Sri Lankan court summons Fonterra officials to face contempt charge

August 21, 2013|Reuters

COLOMBO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - A Sri Lankan court on Wednesdayissued a summons to Fonterra Brands Lanka, the local company ofNew Zealand's Fonterra and four of its top officials toface contempt of court charges for not adhering to an earlierruling that banned sales and advertising of all Fonterra milkproducts.

The district court in Gampaha earlier had banned the saleand advertising of all Fonterra milk products for two weeks,following a complaint by a health sector trade union that thecompany's marketing was misleading.

It obtained the court ban because Fonterra productssuspected of being contaminated with the toxic agriculturalchemical dicyandiamide (DCD) were still on the market despite anorder from the health ministry to recall them.

Lawyers representing the health sector trade union saiddespite the court ban, Fonterra continued to distribute its milkpowder products to retailers on Saturday and distributedleaflets on Monday saying its products were still fit for humanconsumption.

"They (Fonterra) are in contempt as they have not followedthe court order," Upul Jayasuriya, who appeared in court onbehalf of the health sector trade union, told Reuters. "Thejudge has issued summons on Fonterra and its four directors forAug. 23."

The island nation's health ministry has said tests by SriLanka's Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) found DCD in someFonterra milk powders and it had ordered their recall.

Fonterra disputed the accuracy of the testing, but onThursday told Reuters it had recalled two batches ofAnchor-branded product in accordance with the ministrydirective.

The Sri Lankan case follows a major global food scareinvolving New Zealand's Fonterra, the world's biggest dairyexporter, which said on Aug. 3 some of its products couldcontain a bacteria that can cause botulism.

Potentially tainted products have been taken off shelvesfrom China to Saudi Arabia while other countries took measuresto restrict imports.

On Monday, the health ministry said it had decided torelease a batch of milk powder made by companies includingFonterra after being held by ports on suspected DCDcontamination followed by fresh ITI tests came negative.

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by MattDriskill)